I think if you take care of a new computer, you’ll get a lot of good use out of it. With me, …I know how to take good care of equipment, so when I keep something - it usually lasts a long time. The main things for a computer system are:

1. Make sure it is plugged into a real SURGE PROTECTOR (not just a power strip, because some aren’t protected).
2. Know how to open up the case when the computer is turned off, and regularly (every month or so, more often if your house/apt gets a lot) vacuum out all of the dust.
   You can choose to use one of those cans of compressed air to blow it all out instead, but then you leave dust all over your desk/floor. Using both the can and a vacuum would probably prove most effective. Be sure not to shake or tilt the can…it should remain top side up and erect.
3. Keep specific software tools on your computer, keep them up to date, and use them often. Such tools as these would prove to keep your computer in top shape with not too much effort:
   • Spybot Search & Destroy
   • AdAware
   • Auslogics Disk Defrag
   • Auslogics BoostSpeed
   • Dr. Web’s Cure-It for antivirus (I would not use any antivirus that scans everything that is opened.)
     *** I highly discourage the use or purchase of: Norton (anything by them) Antivirus, Security Suite, McAfee AntiVirus or Security Suite, Trend Micro PC Cillin or Security Suite, AVG Antivirus, any other memory resident antivirus program.
     All of these programs are “resource hogs” and effectively slow your computer down. Usually the better written spyware and virii are capable of disabling these in spite of their resident scanning features. Go with Dr. Web’s Cure-It or something like it, you can scan any time you like and scan specific files you want.
4. Reboot or shutdown your computer from time to time. It helps to clear the memory that is used for operating the system and helps keep bugs from showing up. It also helps when you install new software so that it “finalizes” the installation.

I hope that helps. I would like to even offer my expertise through remote administration of your new computer, so that I can personally ensure that your computer is clean, and optimized and in top shape. I would really encourage you to have me start this as soon as you get the computer set up for the first time if you are able.

Cleaning and optimizing from the get-go is really crucial because, almost every new computer anymore comes with some form of spyware preloaded (usually not malicious, but enough to get the ball rolling). I would want to remove everything suspicious, and make the machine completely optimized right from the get go, and that will mean a lot more use and a lot less problems early on and down the road.

I have had trouble with CD drives before and have found that many times they can be fixed by cleaning them.  Its relatively simple and shouldn’t cost you much for the supplies.

I recommend that you get a can of compressed air like “Dust Off” or something similar from Costco or Walmart, or an office supply store.  You want to use it to blow out the dust from the inside of the drive real well.  The thing about these cans of air though, is that there is liquid inside that you don’t want to come out, so never shake the can or tilt it to the side or upside down.  That’s very important, so try and remember, as well as practice spraying the air around in different places up and down and side-ways by bending the straw that attaches to the nozzle.  The straw is your best friend for getting just the air into tight hard-to-reach places.

Not all cd-drives are made the same, so it may be tricky to get the straw in or around the inside of the drive.  There are the kind that you just press the CD into a slot and it automatically grabs it and loads it.  For this kind, just insert the straw into the slot and try and move it all along the width of the slot as you spray.  There are also the kind where you must eject the tray in order to set the CD in it and then it loads the CD in the tray.  In order to get inside, you must eject the tray and remove any CD in it, then try and fit the straw into the open crevices in front of the drive where the tray came out.  Sometimes in order to get it to go in well you need to push the tray back in slightly (but don’t allow it to load all the way back into the drive), and then you should have room available to get the straw back inside.

There are other types of drives that load quite differently, but they aren’t popular anymore and shouldn’t need mentioning since its not likely you have one.

Another CD drive cleaning tip that can keep your drive running beautifully for years to come, is a CD Laser Lens Cleaner Disc.  You can find a lot of generic and name-brand cleaning discs at virtually any place that sells CD-Rs.  The process is fairly quick and its usually automatic.  Generally you load the disc (and sometimes squeeze a drop or two of cleaning solvent onto the brushes of the disc), and play it, listening to the instructions, and usually skip ahead to a particular track number.  Some are designed for the computer and may have a program that you must run to properly clean the lens, but they may not support your particular OS.

The best practice is to keep your CD/DVD drives cleaned regularly using these tips.  You may also want to keep the dust inside the computer housing vacuumed out, but always be careful and make sure you have grounded yourself.

I am really getting a kick out of some good FireFox plugins lately.  I never expected so many great ideas to be put to use in my web browser.  It used to be that most toolbars and plugins for a web browser would simply be to take you to a particular sponsoring web site and maybe offer a couple of things sort of useful such as form-filling and cross-computer bookmarking.  These useful FireFox add-ons really make the grade though.

• All-in-One Sidebar: Transforms your sidebar - very nice & adds lots of great options.
• Download Manager Tweak: Allows you to put your downloads into the sidebar and adds some other handy options.
• Firefox Showcase: Adds ability to preview what you have open in your windows and tabs all in one place - view in sidebar or a tab.
• FoxyTunes: Allows you to control your media players (i.e. Winamp, WMP, etc) from your browser’s status bar.  All major players supported, allows you to download and use skins, see what tracks are currently playing, support for shortcut keys, there’s even a built-in alarm and sleep timer!  That doesn’t even begin to say how cool this is.
• GMarks: Integrates Google Bookmarks into your sidebar or a toolbar.  Even has an option for seeing your starred topics in Google Reader.
• Google Reader Notifier: One of my absolute favs - It puts an icon in your status bar that shows the number of new items in your Google Reader account.  It pops up a clean little notifier window whenever there are new items found in Google Reader!  If you aren’t using Google Reader, its time to start.
• Performancing: A fantastic blogging companion tool.  Puts a blogging editor right into firefox.  Whats so awesome about it is the way you can keep all of your blogs right in one place and publish to any of them without logging into any of them.  It even has a MySpace plugin.  If you have more than one blog, this is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! (Its what I’m using right now to post this article.)

There are other plugins I use, but they have to do with web development.  I may get around to posting about my development plugins some day, but this article is focusing on the average end user.